-By Nojha Herrit, Journalist for Herald of EVE


All across the Heimatar region, a story has been passed down for years. It can be occasionally heard at a bar between friends or used to scare fresh pilots from the academy. I can even remember hearing it from my uncle as a kid, who added absurd details to frighten me. There have been many that question it and others who swear on its authenticity. No matter what you believe, though, you can’t escape the haunt that the story brings. For when you find yourself flying through quiet space, you will sometimes feel the tingle of your spine and the tremble of your hand.
This is the story that echoes across the cosmos...

In Illinfrik, there is said to be a mysterious ship with an even more mysterious pilot. Pilots have supposedly been killed in situations that border on fantasy, and those who are lucky enough to have clones describe the bizarre ordeal when they awaken.
One man said that he was attacked mid-warp when a ship that he had never seen before entered the warp tunnel right behind him and killed his battleship and his pod with a single shot. He claims that the ship was unlike anything he had seen before. He says that it changed shape and color and fired a weapon too small and powerful to even exist.
Another man claims to have been attacked from over 1000 KM away. According to him, the ship suddenly appeared on his local overview, but thought nothing of it until his warp drive malfunctioned and his ship was cut in half by some unknown energy beam.
But perhaps the strangest report is from Jouc Liage, a former cargo ship operator. I had to fly planet-side to get an interview with him, and he was reluctant to tell me his story. After a modest bribe, however, he cleared his throat and told me to take a seat. “I was flying my Fenrir, which was loaded with over 400 million ISK worth of cargo, and I was escorted by a dozen battlecruisers.” He seemed nervous as he tells his story, and kept his gaze fixed on something behind my head. “We were in mid-warp, with no indication of trouble.” He says. “Then we all suddenly drop out of warp, halfway to our destination. All the pilots were scrambling to figure out what happened, when a strange ship just appeared about 3 km in front of me. It was about the size of a cruiser, had no windows, and shone dark purple in the sunlight. But the strangest part was the hull; it bended and shifted and snaked constantly, like a psychedelic sculpture. My Security team could not target it, and my scanner was going insane. The readings fluctuated from 10 kg to over 700,000,000 kg several times a second, combat drones flew away from it, and my computer thought that it was a crate of turkey.” Jouc leaned forward and looked and the ground. “I received a message on my comm. Unit, but it an unintelligible string of letters and numbers. I responded, saying ‘We don’t mean no harm, just tell us what you want.’ But as soon as I sent it, all of my escort ships started shooting each other! Not only that, the ship hit me with a single blast and my entire ship was vaporized!” He lit up a cigarette. “It was the freakiest shit I had ever seen. I couldn’t even imagine it in my nightmares. When my clone awoke, the doctors said I was screaming violently, and I had to be restrained”. Jouc declined any further questions from my interview. Since the incident, Jouc got a job as a waiter and has not left his home planet.
The only thing that is known about this mysterious being is that it has never been seen at a stargate or station, only attacks targets bigger than itself, and supposedly will not attack a ship if an Amarrian is onboard. Even the elusive Jovian nation has denied the existence of such a ship, and nobody is sure if there is only the one or if there are others like it. Reports of the ship only occur in Illinfrik, and there haven’t been any sighting or attacks in the last 6 years. The safety of pilots in the system is not guaranteed, though. The entity may decide, for whatever reasons, to terrorize New Eden once more...